Rotary-wing aircraft employ a variety of means to interconnect a rotating rotor mast to a plurality of rotor blades, including rotor yokes. Manufacturers of rotary-wing aircraft, such as helicopters, expand the flight envelope of their rotorcraft with respect to gross weight, location of its center of gravity, and top speeds by increasing the flapping of the blades. Ultimately, blade flapping is a result of larger cyclic inputs required to achieve controlled flight as those conditions vary during flight. However, the manufacturers must still provide durable components in the power train while attempting to design as much flapping in the blades as possible. Many four-bladed helicopters use composite yokes to provide for this blade flapping motion. As the blades flap, the composite yokes bend in “flexure” regions where the composite yoke is narrower than in other areas. The composite yokes may be bolted through holes within the yokes to plates or adapters that spline back to the mast. Furthermore, the torque of the rotor is transmitted through these bolts. However, the holes create locations where stress may be concentrated that may result in the yoke's failure. Interlaminar shear strain is one such stress that accounts for a significant number of failures in these composite yokes. Therefore, these flexure regions of the composite yoke are typically located as far away from these holes to minimize impact of the stress generated from the bending generated by the blade flapping motion.